Let's do a very back of the envelope oversimplified calculation...
Let's say assume the following:
- Semester system
- Each teacher teaches 5 classes per year (2 one semester, 3 the other)
- Each student takes 10 classes per year
- Each class is 20 students (assume very low - liberal arts college)
- Each teacher earns 100K in total comp
- Each teacher requires an assistant making 40K in total comp
- Each teacher and assistant pair carries an admin making 100K in total comp
- Each course costs $5K
The math I get says:
- 50K total tuition per student
- 20 students = $1mm revenue
- 20 students = 200 course-students = (20 teachers/class * 5 classes * 2 teachers) = 2 teachers + 2 assistants + 2 admins
- Staffing cost = 200K + 80K + 200K = 480K
In this oversimplified model of small classes, tuition covers the teachers, their graders and admin overhead 4 times over. Are buildings really that expensive in rural America?
Even if all the classes are 10 people each the #s don't add up. Are people really getting 50% discounts? Are football stadiums for these colleges so expensive?
The astounding ratio I follow is tuition divided by fully loaded faculty salary. If it's 1/2, that tells me something is wrong in how the faculty are spending their time.
Working on mathematical models for a living, if the number at the end comes out as "That can't be right..." odds are its a problem with the model, not the system it's modeling. You've made a lot of simplifications, both on the income and expenses end of your envelope math that I very much doubt are correct.
Universities, even small ones, are fairly large, complex organizations that are extremely capital intensive. This is complicated by the fact that many of the institutions we're talking about are private, so we don't have many numbers.
But to the major point of moving toward teaching, and away from research, we can look at the balance sheet of a large state university system:
For 2012, the UNC system took in $320,535,000 in student fees and $725,846,000 in grants and contracts. While UNC is a fairly good deal for it's students (if you're in-state) its hardly free, and grant income outpaces student fees by a healthy margin.
Do the grants include general state support for in-state students? Since it's a public school the math I laid out would change. Certainly much larger average class size.
To prior points, it is hard to get to the bottom of financials. If like to know where all the money goes if bit to teaching.
Let's do a very back of the envelope oversimplified calculation...
Let's say assume the following: - Semester system - Each teacher teaches 5 classes per year (2 one semester, 3 the other) - Each student takes 10 classes per year - Each class is 20 students (assume very low - liberal arts college) - Each teacher earns 100K in total comp - Each teacher requires an assistant making 40K in total comp - Each teacher and assistant pair carries an admin making 100K in total comp - Each course costs $5K
The math I get says: - 50K total tuition per student - 20 students = $1mm revenue - 20 students = 200 course-students = (20 teachers/class * 5 classes * 2 teachers) = 2 teachers + 2 assistants + 2 admins - Staffing cost = 200K + 80K + 200K = 480K
In this oversimplified model of small classes, tuition covers the teachers, their graders and admin overhead 4 times over. Are buildings really that expensive in rural America?
Even if all the classes are 10 people each the #s don't add up. Are people really getting 50% discounts? Are football stadiums for these colleges so expensive?
The astounding ratio I follow is tuition divided by fully loaded faculty salary. If it's 1/2, that tells me something is wrong in how the faculty are spending their time.